Conclusions
by Kyla1
Summary: What starts as an average day onboard Voyager soon turns sour as three important members of the senior staff vanish. The events which gradually unfold will have longreaching consequences for all the senior crew. JC chapter 3 and 4 now up
1. Morning Coffee

Disclaimer: None of the characters or sets in this fiction belong to me in any way. Any resemblance to actual persons alive or dead is purely coincidental 

A/N : This is the first thing I've written for about 3 years, and is also the longest ongoing thing I have written. Any and all feedback and constructive criticism is very welcome. I've had trouble trying to write in character on some occasions so attention to this would be very gratefully received. Many thanks.

Conclusions 

**Chapter 1: Early Morning Coffee**

It was 0600 hours on Voyager, a time when many of her inhabitants were either first opening their eyes to the prospect of another long shift, or alternatively heading home to bed at the end of another long shift. This of course was, as always, dependent on the course of events. There were many mornings at 0600 when some kind of emergency had already dragged the senior staff of the ship Voyager from their beds and to their stations.

But, Captain Kathryn Janeway mused; this threat had fortunately been absent from day to day life for the past few weeks. However, this hadn't stopped the captain of Voyager from finding herself at a window of the mess hall at 0600 hours sipping her first cup of coffee of the morning.

Kathryn Janeway enjoyed the mess hall at this time of day. It was peaceful with just a low hum of contented murmuring. At one table, 3 friends sat with cups of steaming talaxian tea, each running a hand past tired eyes, openly ruminating on who an ensign had to sleep with in order to be taken off of the unpopular night shift. Kathryn chuckled throatily to herself and momentarily considered answering that question before reigning in the impulse. She knew only too well the importance of allowing her crew the space and freedom to complain and gripe against their senior staff and she had no doubt that many of them regularly did. Janeway briefly narrowed her eyes, if she looked closely she could almost see a young red-headed woman sitting among her friends and colleagues debating if her senior science officer was open to bribery or blackmail. Coming out of her reverie Janeway spotted one young female ensign looking at her curiously. She briefly nodded to the girl then looked away, trying to show her younger staff that while their captain could sometimes seem inaccessible she could always be relied on to treat every one of them with the utmost respect.

The crew of Voyager had always had a shaky relationship with their senior staff and Captain. She had always known that when she destroyed the Caretaker, and subsequently their route home, she was taking an enormous risk. Not only with the dangers of traversing an unknown quadrant in the hope of finding a way home, but with the danger of mutiny and betrayal. She had asked a group of friends and strangers to trust her and to follow her blindly through trials and dangers that she had no hope of predicting. However, a group of people who had once been strangers were now a community unto themselves, relationships had been forged, broken and forged anew time and time again.

Janeway took another sip of her rapidly cooling coffee and gazed reflectively out the window. She cherished every one of the few moments she got to stand still and quietly for a while. Her quarters were sometimes too lonely and her office carried too many reminders of the person she needed to be, but in the mess hall she could stand still for a moment and tell herself that she was just another crewmember waiting for the morning shift to begin. Sometimes, when the inactivity was starting to pray on her mind, bringing issues she'd rather forget to the forefront, it was the one thing that kept her sane

Out of the corner of her eye Kathryn caught sight of two members of the engineering team entering the hall closely followed by her chief engineer. B'Elanna Torres looked tired but satisfied, a feeling that she herself knew was one of the reasons most engineers took up the post. Janeway gazed at the young woman over the rim of her cup and resolved not to approach the engineer unless prompted.

B'Elanna Torres caught sight of her captain standing alone in one corner of the mess and quickly excused herself from her colleagues, knowing full well that the captain would have spotted her and already be wondering what the situation was. Relations had often been strained between the former maquis and the woman who, until a few years ago, she had considered her strongest enemy. B'Elanna had come aboard Voyager with a lot of caution and a great deal of unease, the decision to serve on Voyager as a Starfleet officer had never sat easy with her and she had often privately wondered if her commanding officer and friend Chakotay hadn't sold out. It had then been a shock to her when the woman she initially thought to be Starfleet of the worst kind had not only given her a home and a purpose but also trust and responsibility. Kathryn Janeway had been one of the few people in B'Elanna's life to overlook her past and her occasionally hostile nature to the woman beneath. She had proven over and over again that she cared about every member of her crew, Starfleet and maquis alike and B'Elanna was under no doubt that Janeway would give her life without a moments thought for any one of them, as she almost had on many occasion. She had also resolved never to begrudge any order received while under Janeway's command, she had seen first-hand how her captain would undertake any job no matter how dirty or dangerous, so long as she was allowed.

"Captain," B'Elanna approached the still woman cautiously, she doubted any man or woman aboard the ship would have the courage to not to be cautious when walking up to their captain while she was still only on her first cup of coffee.

"Lieutenant," Janeway turned to give the young woman her full attention, "No problems I hope? I wasn't expecting you to be on duty until 0700."

B'Elanna smiled inwardly, wondering if there was any detail onboard the ship that her captain didn't know. "No major problems ma'am, I received a call at 0300 saying that there was a problem with the core. I've run every diagnostic and test I can think of and I've had every crewmember available crawl through every Jeffries tube going. At the moment the only conclusion I can come to is that there was a Ghost in the system. However, I've left the crew with strict instructions to carry on running hourly tests on the system until we can be sure."

Janeway nodded, it wasn't uncommon for there to be a ghost in any computer system that could occasionally throw up false results. However for a computer as advanced as Voyager it was unusual. Still, she trusted her chief engineer implicitly and if her judgement and experience told her it was a ghost then it most likely was.

"I think it would be wise to monitor the situation until we can be sure," Kathryn nodded. Noticing the dark bags under her chief engineers eyes she quickly switched to a more personal tone. "Go get some rest for a few hours B'Elanna, I'll tell the crew not to expect you until 1000, just make sure I have a report by the end of the day." For a moment the younger woman looked as though she might dispute the order until exhaustion won out.

"Thank you Captain, I'll see you in a few hours." B'Elanna took her leave gratefully and swiftly; if she hurried she hoped she might catch Tom for an hour before he was due to leave. Her mood brightened as she wondered just how much spare time the two of them could manage to catch together.

Kathryn smiled crookedly; she was under no doubt as to what had suddenly put a spring in her chief engineers step. A brief envy swept through her closely followed by happiness that two of her favourite officers had found something so special together. She resumed her study of the stars. Not so long ago it would have been impossible to imagine two people such as B'Elanna Torres and Tom Paris finding each other. They were both extroverted people who often found themselves on the wrong side of authority. This often caused them to clash, both finding the other one frustrating and infuriating to the extreme. Ultimately and inevitably, it led to the most explosive chemistry that Kathryn had ever seen.

Neelix bustled into his kitchen humming happily to himself. The prospect of another shift in Voyagers kitchen had never been an unhappy thought to the cheerful Talaxian. He often prided himself on being the second most likely person to be on duty at any time, the first being the Captain of course.

After securely fastening his apron Neelix headed for his supplies cupboard and optimistically flung open the door. After seeing the contents the rotund chef hesitated a little. He rummaged around for a few minutes before backing out triumphantly holding a leola root in one hand, so all was not lost. Neelix spun round and instantly noticed that his normally brimming cafeteria was unusually low, glancing round the mess hall in surprise he instantly spotted the culprit and chuckled to himself.

"Captain?" Janeway jumped as the voice by her right shoulder brought her out of her thoughts. The crews' morale officer smiled up at her.

"I noticed your mug seemed in need of re-filling Captain." Neelix said, proffering the newly filled cafeteria. Kathryn glanced down at her mug and noticed it was indeed empty.

"That would be lovely Neelix, thank you." She smiled as her mug was filled and brought it to her face to smell the aroma, closing her eyes as she did so. Neelix's smile widened a little, one of the most enjoyable parts of his job was watching the captain enjoy her coffee.

"So Captain, what brings you here so early?" Neelix asked, confident that his Captain would answer.

"No particular reason," Kathryn answered honestly, "But now that I am here I thought I might ask my morale officer for the status of crew morale. On a purely professional basis you understand." She smiled slightly and bent her head to her mug almost quickly enough for Neelix to miss the twinkle in her eye. Neelix chuckled to himself, he suspected there were few people onboard Voyager who knew how much her Captain enjoyed a good early morning gossip.

"Well Captain," Neelix glanced around conspiratorially before leaning in closer, "It appears we may have a significant boost to the morale of two select crew-members before the week is out."

Kathryn glanced at him and raised a well-defined eyebrow. "Only two? I see, is this not something that all the crew will benefit from?"

Neelix chuckled, well aware that his Captain was teasing him.

"Oh I very much hope they will in time Captain!" He leaned in ever more closer, "I have it on very good authority that the Night time in Notre Dame programme has been booked on holo-deck 1 for tomorrow night!" He smiled broadly.

"Indeed?" Kathryn couldn't stop a wry smile escaping as she tried to appear serious. The Night time in Notre Dame holodeck programme was one of Tom Paris' more successful homage's to the 20th century. He had created it shortly after one of his more unsuccessful attempts to woo B'Elanna when it seemed like he would never get anywhere with the fiery engineer. Although Kathryn had never entered the programme she had often heard of its romantic properties, it had been used by many a crewmember hoping to ease the loneliness of their journey. However it was also the site of more romantic proposals than anywhere else she knew, only closely rivalled by couples who had found themselves stranded in a turbolift with nothing to occupy their time for a few hours.

"Oh yes," Neelix nodded knowledgably, "Of course I can't confirm anything yet, you know I would never betray a confidence!"

Kathryn nodded and smiled at her trusted confidant. "Understood," She drained the last of her coffee and handed the empty cup over to his care. "I will see you again at lunchtime, I trust we will have our usual delicious fare."

"Oh yes Captain." Neelix beamed, "I believe you will be pleasantly surprised by today's menu!"

Janeway had no doubt she would be surprised, just how pleasant it would be she was less sure of but she wisely kept this thought to herself. Smiling, she took her leave of the mess hall and made her way unhurriedly to the bridge, stopping to greet several crewmembers on the way. She was determined that as long as the situation allowed she would always find the time to say hello to as many of the people onboard her ship as possible. Her ultimate aim was to have greeted and passed the time in some small way with every crewmember by the end of any one-week. She wasn't sure if she would ever be successful.

If she had been able to read her crews mind or hear their personal conversations she most likely would have been surprised to hear just how much the crew noticed her personal commitment to each and every one of them. It was common knowledge among the ship that Captain Janeway regularly put herself out just to smile at an ensign in the corridor. They found it strange, however, that not one of them could remember the last time they saw their Captain at one of Voyager's social gatherings, although they saw almost all of the rest of the senior staff.

_TBC_


	2. Under Attack

Disclaimer: None of the characters or sets in this fiction belong to me in any way. Any resemblance to actual persons alive or dead is purely coincidental

A/N: I've named this story conclusions as I want to use it to draw some conclusions under some issues that always seemed to be unresolved in the show, namely between Janeway and Chakotay. However, I plan this to be a long story so don't feel frustrated if these issues take a little while to surface.

**Conclusions**

**Chapter 2:**

Commander Chakotay lowered himself into his chair and nodded to the ensign sitting at the controls in front of him, giving the silent command to continue. The handsome first officer reached over for one of the padd's that blighted his day-to-day existence and idly wondered what had happened to Tom Paris, and for that matter his Captain. Chakotay knew from repeated experience that there were only two reasons that Captain Janeway would ever be delayed on her journey to the bridge. The first was that she had fallen asleep in her ready room yet again after spending half the night studying whatever the latest anomaly had occurred onboard the ship in which case she would be rushing, tired and ultimately unhappy with an unfinished cup of coffee in one hand. The second was that she had risen early and then gone to the mess hall where she had undoubtedly become caught up with gossiping with Neelix before stopping to talk with at least 100 crewmembers before she even thought about making it to the Bridge. In this case she would have already finished her morning coffee and with the mix of that and the illicit gossip that she couldn't resist she would ultimately be in a good relaxed mood. He prayed it would be the latter.

Chakotay became so engrossed in his thoughts he almost missed the sound of the door opening on the corner of the bridge. "Captain on the bridge." The call brought him out of his reverie and he looked around with more than a degree of apprehension to see what the day was about to bring.

Captain Janeway approached her seat of power with a spring in her step and a smile playing about her lips. She settled herself in her chair and nodded to the ensign in front of her, unconsciously echoing her XO's gesture from just moments before. Doing a double take toward the flight seat Kathryn suddenly smiled wryly.

"No Tom Paris this morning?" She asked innocently. Chakotay looked at his commanding officer curiously but her expression gave nothing away.

"No, no sign of him yet." He carried on looking suspiciously at his Captain as she comfortably perused her first report of the day but she still gave no hint of her inner thoughts beyond a slight quirk to the corner of her mouth.

15 minutes into the Alpha shift a flustered Tom Paris hurried onto the bridge, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste to greet the commanding team.

"Captain," He quickly straightened himself up, "I'd like to apologise for being late ma'am," He coughed uncomfortably, "I ran into a situation on one of the lower decks, nothing to worry about now but at the time it did demand my attention." The pilot stood as still as he could bring himself to be, uncomfortably aware of a solitary bead of sweat trickling down his neck. As his Captain coolly looked him up and down Tom quickly did a mental inventory of the state of his uniform. As far as he could remember both him and B'Elanna had taken unusual care with his uniform, at least they had done before B'Elanna had invented a new and unusual method for deflowering the roses on the nightstand and then… Oh gods. Paris quickly reigned in his wandering mind and focussed on his commanding officer. Captain Janeway appraised her wayward pilot with a serious expression.

"I see Mr Paris, well in future try and remember that your first and foremost priority are your shifts onboard this bridge, anything else needing your own special 'attention'" Kathryn placed a deliberate emphasis on the word, silently enjoying watching the younger man squirm, "Can wait until you are finished, understood?"

"Yes Ma'am." Tom swallowed and quickly relieved the tired-looking ensign from the flight deck.

Chakotay looked curiously over at Captain Janeway, he wasn't sure if anyone onboard the ship other than her close friend Tuvok would ever notice but he could have sworn that she was teasing her pilot. Just as he lent forward to catch her attention she cleared her throat.

"Tom, I meant to ask you." She said with her voice deliberately light, knowing that the man would be startled by her use of his given name. "Did B'Elanna manage to get some rest? I sent her for a lie down this morning."

Chakotay watched with amusement as the younger mans neck instantly flamed a bright red. As the pilot hastily stammered an affirmative to the question the XO glanced across at his Captain, only to see that she was already engrossed in her first report of the morning.

"I don't think the Captain is listening Tom," Chakotay said wryly, "I suggest you give it up and concentrate on where we're going, we'd hate for you to miss anything that requires your own specialist attention." He couldn't see it but Chakotay could feel Kathryn's enjoyment of the banter radiating over to him. He smiled and settled in for a peaceful shift.

The morning passed swiftly in a blur of easy banter with a relaxed atmosphere. As the afternoon began to drag on Kathryn found herself growing restless. Growing tired of sitting down she had already excused herself from the bridge several times on the pretence of supervising both the engineering and astrometic crew. Upon finding both teams working to their full potential with no problems in the works she had found herself with even itchier feet and had insisted on "helping" with a few routine tests and maintenance work until her chief engineer had politely informed her that she might perhaps like to let some of the engineering crew do the jobs they were given. She had then roamed the corridors for a while until finding herself back on the bridge even more frustrated with the lack of a challenge. Chakotay observed his Captain pacing round the bridge peering over the shoulders of all those on duty until they were all jumpier than they had been the morning after Tom Paris's notorious 20th century Vindaloo night.

Sensing that the crew could probably use a break from the constant scrutinising, and that the Captain herself could do with slowing down, Chakotay cleared his throat.

"Captain, I was wondering if you could perhaps help me with this report." He said lightly, waving the padd with one hand and flashing his dimples into the bargain. Kathryn looked over to him in surprise then smiled, reading his mind. She sank down into the chair next to her trusted friend, resting her arm close to his.

"Was that a hint Commander?" she asked quietly, Chakotay raised an eyebrow as he handed her a padd.

"Not at all Captain, I just thought the carpet could use a little break from the constant wearing." He said with just enough of a twinkle in his eye for her to let him get away with it, this once. Chakotay always seemed to be able to get away with more than most of her officers, including her other, trusted, senior staff. Theirs was a complex friendship that ran long and ran deep, sometimes she felt shaken by the depth of their connection. However, the relationship that was so unalterably special to her had suffered, particularly since the events leading up to the death of Captain Ransom. She privately hoped that the re-emergence of Chakotay's playful side meant that some of the wounded feelings were beginning to heal. She opened her mouth to respond when she suddenly heard a noise from Harry Kim's console. All friendliness forgotten she instantly sprang to her feet, banishing the report from her hand. Vaguely aware of Chakotay rising beside her she called out to her officer.

"Mr Kim, report."

"We've just picked up on two ships closing in on us Captain," Harry Kim's hand's flew over his console with ease, his eye's skim reading the data with the skill borne from many hours practise. "Both have shields up and are charging weapons."

"Red alert," Captain Janeway planted herself in her customary position in the middle of the bridge with her legs planted either side of her and her hands on her hips as the lighting dimmed. "Hail them, Mr Tuvok I want a full diagnostic on weapons capability."

"Aye Captain." The dark-skinned Vulcan scanned his data quickly, "They have an impressive weapons array similar to our own."

"Can we match them?" The Captain stayed impassively still, her mind running through options with ease.

"Inconclusive Captain, I believe we are so closely matched that it is almost impossible to tell."

"Captain they're not responding to any of our hails." Tom Paris called from the front of the bridge.

"The ships are still approaching, weapons are fully charged and loaded." Harry Kim called without raising his eyes.

"Charge the photon torpedoes, Mr Paris evasive manoeuvres, I'd like to get us out of this one with minimal weapon fire if we can."

"Aye Captain," The pilot felt the rush of adrenaline that always accompanied these moments kick in and fought down the urge to shout triumphantly out as he turned the ship sharply.

"The first ship is firing Captain." Harry Kim said with more calm than his racing heart belied.

Voyager lurched forwards as the tail end of the weapons fire caught her. Captain Janeway pitched to one side and was only saved from hitting the deck by the firm hand of her first officer grasping her under one arm and unceremoniously yanking her back upright. She nodded her gratitude towards him and instantly snapped back into command mode.

"What's your call on this one commander?" She quickly steadied herself and smoothed back a stray hair that had fallen over one eye.

"I'm with you Captain, I believe it's in our best interests to get out of this one as unscathed as possible, I suggest continuing to try hailing them, it's possible this is just a show of strength in order to prevent us from attacking first." Chakotay kept his eyes on the viewscreen whilst surreptitiously examining his Captain in the corner of his gaze as was his custom, luckily she seemed fine so far, even if her hair had seen better days.

"Agreed." Captain Janeway planted herself forwards once again. "Open all frequencies." After listening out for the tell tale beep that said that link was open the Captain took a deep breath. "This is Captain Janeway of the Starship Voyager…" She was saved from completing the well-used speech by another unexpected blast to the ship. This time nothing could save her from falling and she let out a growl of frustration as she catapulted to the floor in an undignified heap. Grabbing onto the railing to steady herself Kathryn felt a sudden blast of pain as her first officers foot came unceremoniously into contact with her right temple as he attempted to remain upright. Hissing softly she raised a hand to her head only to feel a sickening wave of nausea as her fingers came in contact with blood. Shaking her head to try and clear the wooziness threatening to fog her senses the Captain quickly hauled herself up.

"Captain!" Her XO grabbed her arm yet again, "Are you all right? I couldn't stop myself…"

"Save it Commander, there'll be plenty of time for you to grovel later." Captain Janeway quickly scanned the Bridge to check on the status of her crew. Tom Paris had fared little better than her, having head-butted his panel during the blast but he was recovering quickly, Tuvok had obviously managed to hold on, his long Vulcan fingers serving him well, and Harry… The Captain quickly looked again and soon spotted a head of dark hair lying next to the console in the corner. "Mr Kim!" She quickly vaulted the steps separating them and was soon crouching next to her wounded officer, feeling quickly for his pulse she was relieved to find it steady, although weaker than she'd like. Standing up quickly she instantly began tapping commands into the console that Harry had been working at just moments before. As the ensign began to stir at her feet she swore to herself as she saw the site-to-site transporters were down.

"Commander," She called to her second in command, "I want you to get Mr Kim safely to sickbay."

"Aye Captain," Chakotay rushed over and quickly got a firm grip under the young man's armpits before hauling him toward the turbolift. A sudden feeling of dread made him turn round before he entered the lift, he felt an urgent need to see his Captain again before leaving the bridge. As he turned round Kathryn looked up, the two friend's locked eyes. A multitude of messages ran between them through the depth of their connection, neither of them broke eye contact until another sudden blast rocked the bridge, snapping both the officers back into the situation.

Chakotay quickly manoeuvred himself and the injured ensign into the turbolift, taking a deep breath he scanned the bridge for one last time before the doors slid closed.

Captain Janeway held stubbornly onto the console in front of her, determined not to fall again in front of the crew despite the dizziness threatening her balance..

"Mr Tuvok, target their engines, let's show them what Voyager's capable of" Janeway set her jaw and prepared for battle.

Before Tuvok could fully charge their weapons a sudden flash of intense light swept the bridge. No-one had the chance to cry out before it was over.

TBC 


	3. Gone

Disclaimer: None of the characters or sets in this fiction belong to me in any way. Any resemblance to actual persons alive or dead is purely coincidental

Conclusions Chapter 3 - Gone 

The unwelcome shaking of Voyager being rocked by weapons fire ended just as Chakotay managed to drag the unconscious Harry Kim into sickbay. The Doctor was already activated and tending to several patients with minor injuries as a result of the unexpected attack.

"Doctor!" Chakotay lifted the ensign up onto a bed and checked that he would be comfortable before turning to face the EMH.

"Commander, what happened here?" The doctor was already expertly running a tricorder over the young man's inert body.

"He fell as we were being attacked, I can't tell you any more than that." Chakotay quickly scanned the sickbay, "How are the rest of the crew?"

"All minor injuries," The EMH didn't raise his eyes as he continued to study the man before him, "Nothing beyond my abilities."

Chakotay made a mental note to get B'Elanna to make some modifications to the Doctors modesty subroutines. "Ok Doctor, I'm going back to the bridge, keep me updated on Mr Kim's condition." Spinning quickly the first officer left the sickbay. Now his initial task had been seen to his mind started racing. _Why had the attack finished so suddenly? Why hadn't he yet heard from the bridge? _Clearing his throat he tapped the badge on his chest.

"Chakotay to Janeway please respond." He waited impatiently, his mind on the lack of response even as his feet carried on propelling him toward the turbolift. "Commander Chakotay to the bridge, respond please." He snapped, feeling a sudden surge of nerves pulse through his system. The doors to the lift swung open revealing an agitated half-klingon.

"Chakotay," she snapped at him, a response he knew all to well was borne from nervousness. "Have you heard from the bridge? I've been trying to contact them ever since the attack ended but I've not had any response."

Any irrational hope that his comm. Badge was merely malfunctioning swiftly flew from Chakotay's mind. "No I haven't heard anything either." He said quietly. The rest of the journey passed in silence as the two friends sank into their own worries and fears.

In all the years to come Chakotay would never forget the moment the doors to the bridge opened, he would replay the gasp heard at his side and the fear that shot through his own heart at the sight before him over and over again. For days to come he would torture himself with "what ifs?" and replay differing scenarios over and over in his head without ever coming to a satisfying conclusion.

The Bridge was deadly silent; a slight smoke filled the air from one or two damaged consoles and the lighting was dim. Chakotay could see the outlines of several forms lying on the ground before them, his heart jumped into his throat as he bent to identify the first one.

"Ensign Jenkins," He called to B'Elanna, he quickly checked the young woman's pulse as she lay still on the ground before him, to his relief it was still going strong. "She seems to be ok, just unconscious." He straightened his legs. "What about over there?"

"The same, these are all ensigns, all unconscious but otherwise ok." B'Elanna looked back over to him. "Is there any sign of the Captain?" She swallowed hard, "or Tom?"

Chakotay moved around the bridge, training his eyes to focus in the smoky atmosphere. "I can't see them over here, are they not anywhere over there?" Looking round again Chakotay clenched his fists. "I can't see any sign of Tuvok either."

"I don't see them Chakotay." B'Elanna looked over to her friend with fear-filled eyes. "Do you suppose something's happened? Where could they be? They must be in here somewhere." Panic filled the lieutenant and she swung round in a wild circle. "Tom? Tom! Tom, where are you?" She started shouting into the quiet bridge. Chakotay crossed the bridge in a matter of seconds to arrive at his best friends side, he grabbed her shaking hands and brought them together in the "praying" position.

"B'Elanna," He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes, trying to calm her. "B'Elanna, we'll find them." As he said the words Chakotay felt a feeling of dread sweep through him, he tried to swallow past the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. "I promise." B'Elanna turned her tear filled eyes toward him before throwing her arms around him, hard. Chakotay stiffened then relaxed, they would need to act, there was a lot to be done, but for a minute they could just be two friends in need of comfort.

Chakotay felt slightly uncomfortable as he took his place at the head of the briefing table, he raised his head as the remnants of Voyager's senior crew filed into the room. The crewmembers in front of him were subdued, Harry Kim in particular looked pale. The doctor had rapidly fixed him up and sent him back on his way but he was still suffering from intense feelings of guilt. He couldn't help but feel that if the Captain hadn't sent him and the commander off the bridge then maybe they wouldn't be in their current position. Chakotay himself felt similar feelings of guilt but forced them down, knowing exactly what Kathryn would say if she knew he was feeling that way. She herself had the market on guilt he thought wryly to himself, knowing that she still thought he blamed her for events that had happened earlier in the year. Bringing himself back to the present he cleared his throat.

"Ok people, you all know the situation," Chakotay leaned forwards and gripped the back of the chair in front of him. "We are currently missing Tuvok, Mr Paris… and the Captain." He swallowed hard. "Right now we don't know where they are or why they've been taken from us." He scanned the table; it seemed noticeably empty. B'Elanna sat to his right looking ashen, Chakotay was almost relieved she was still in shock, he knew all to well that once this stage past she would be angry and who knew how she would react then. Neelix sat quietly, his usual exuberance at being part of the briefing nowhere to be found, Seven of Nine looked lost without her mother figure standing at the head of the table. Chakotay softened his tone, "I know right now you're all in shock, and you're not used to dealing with a situation like this with three of our senior crew missing but right now we have to put personal feelings aside and do everything we can to get our Captain, our pilot and our security officer back." Slipping on the command mask as he had been taught to do Chakotay straightened his shoulders and stood upright. Copying his stance the rest of the crew around the table sat straighter in their seats.

"Mr Kim," Chakotay nodded toward the ensign, "What's the latest report from sickbay?" Harry cleared his throat.

"When I left the doctor was in the process of reviving the last of the remaining bridge crew." He studied his clasped hands on the table in front of him, "It seems like they were stunned but at the moment we just don't know how."

"Ok" Chakotay nodded, his mind racing,

"Commander." Chakotay looked round in surprise at B'Elanna using his title, it seemed like there was more than one person who found strength behind formality, "I find it interesting that out of all the people on the bridge they… whoever they are, only took the Captain, Tom and Tuvok, why not the others? What was so different about them?"

"I believe it was because they were ensigns," Seven spoke uncharacteristically quietly, "All that were left were ensigns, any person on the bridge with a rank above ensign was taken. The captain, lieutenant commander and lieutenant."

"So if I had still been on the bridge," Chakotay spoke slowly.

"You would have been taken too." B'Elanna filled in. Chakotay nodded and took a deep breath.

"Ok, for whatever reason our officers have been taken, it goes without saying that from this moment our number one priority is finding them and bringing them home." Chakotay looked round the table again, "Seven I want you to start running scans and see if you can pick up anything at all that might give us some indication of where those ships went, I think that's the best place to start. Mr Kim, you can assist her. B'Elanna we're going to need to be a peak capacity as soon as you can manage, any damage we got during that attack needs to be fixed, and soon. Mr Neelix," The colourful talaxian looked startled at being addressed.

"Yes Commander?" He queried.

"I think it's best if we keep this situation as quiet as possible for as long as we can," Chakotay fixed Neelix with a steady gaze, "Until we have a clear idea of what has happened and where we need to go I think it will only be detrimental to the rest of the crew if they find out they're missing 2 senior officers and their Captain. Understood?"

"Yes Sir," Neelix nodded, his own courage resolving within him. Chakotay looked around the table again and nodded with satisfaction at the businesslike expressions on each persons face.

"Dismissed."

Chakotay stood back as one by one his remaining senior staff filed out of the room. No, he corrected himself, **her **senior staff.

Briefly he allowed his composure to slip and the stresses of the past hour play on his features. Having a crewmember go missing in action was never easy, especially not when there was more than one and not when it was the senior staff. Closing his eyes he sent out a brief prayer to Tom Paris, Tuvok and Kathryn Janeway. He knew that he wouldn't be able to rest until they were back, and she was sat by his side. Drawing himself up he took a deep breath before leaving the briefing room and re-entering the bridge.

_TBC_


	4. Awoken

_Disclaimer: None of the characters or sets in this fiction belong to me in any way. Any resemblance to actual persons alive or dead is purely coincidental_

_A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! I hope I can carry on doing them all justice. _

Conclusions Chapter 4 – Awoken 

"Captain? Captain." A hand was firmly shaking her shoulder, "Captain you need to wake up." She tried to open her eyes, a flash of pain running from temple to temple made her groan and give up the fight. "I know it hurts," the voice continued patiently, "but you need to wake up."

"Captain," another voice joined the insistent murmuring in her ear, Kathryn frowned in annoyance, what was going on? Her scientific brain quickly ran through the possibilities without finding anything satisfactory. "Captain, we have reason to believe that you may have suffered a brain injury, therefore you must not sleep in case you worsen the situation and it becomes critical."

"And that's how we tell the Captain she may have concussion," The first voice spoke again sounding distinctly annoyed, "This is why Vulcan's don't make good doctors, _no bedside manner_." The first voice hissed, obviously trying to keep the volume down.

"On the contrary Mr Paris, a Vulcan doctor is one of the finest. The emotional responses of a human can only serve to impair their ultimate judgement.

"Try telling that to the doctor next time he decides that singing the score of Carmen helps them to heal faster."

"I believe that here you are only, as you might say, proving my point lieutenant."

Captain Janeway sat up and rubbed a hand over her forehead, doing nothing to dissipate the headache sitting across her brow. She quickly scanned the dank room in front of her in confusion _where the hell am I? _She frowned and brought a hand up to the side of her face where she could feel something sticky, as her probing fingers came into contact with blood she hissed sharply. It attracted the attention of the man and Vulcan squatting where her shoulders had previously been.

"Easy there Captain," Tom Paris efficiently placed a hand on one shoulder and pushed back the hair that had been covering a laceration on his Captain's brow. "You've been unconscious for a little while, what do you remember?"

"I remember being on the bridge and coming under attack," Janeway passed a hand across her face, "Then it all goes blank. Where are we gentlemen?"

"At this precise moment we cannot be sure," Tuvok spoke by her left shoulder, "It would appear we have been taken onboard another vessel, logic tells us it must be the same vessel that attacked us while we were onboard Voyager. However, this information has only been gathered preliminarily."

Janeway nodded and cast her eyes back around the place where she had awoken. The three officers were being held in a medium sized room, which looked as though it had been designed to hold more than three prisoners. A bench ran along the wall on her right hand side and to the left she could see a dirty bucket, which looked as though it might serve as a rudimentary toilet. The room had obviously been used to imprison people many times before; it had a dirty well-used air. On the wall directly in front of her Kathryn could see a series of dark red stains, the origin of which she didn't care to dwell on. Ignoring Tom's mild protest she twisted round to see what lay behind her. A wall of bars that looked deceptively simple separated the three from a long thin corridor leading to somewhere unknown.

"Ok Captain, so you say you can't remember how you received this head injury so we have no way of knowing if you blacked out at the time or not." Tom Paris studied his superior officers face unselfconsciously. "Do you feel dizzy or disorientated at all? How severe is the pain in your head?"

"Mr Paris, I have been taken from my ship and imprisoned god-knows-where so yes I am feeling disorientated, the walls are also spinning and I have a troupe of klingon's tap-dancing through my skull." Captain Janeway snapped feeling unaccountably irritable. "Now for heaven's sake stop fussing over a minor scratch on my forehead and explain to me what in gods name we are doing here."

Tom Paris couldn't suppress a small half smile at his Captains reaction. Being careful to keep his tone light he quickly filled her in on all the events leading up to their present situation. She seemed far away, only the spasmodic nods of her head letting the pilot know that she was following his story; she clenched her fists convulsively as he quickly filled her in on Harry Kim's injury but relaxed when he told her that Chakotay had taken him down to sickbay.

"Ok," Kathryn cleared her throat decisively, "Let's try and get some perspective on things," She struggled to her feet and swayed slightly as dizziness hit. Tuvok was quickly beside his friend's side, he grasped her elbow to steady her. Logically he knew that the optimum position for someone with a head injury was sitting, however, experience told him that to try to put Kathryn Janeway in that position at this particular moment would be an unsuccessful endeavour.

"Captain," Tom Paris sprung up as well, "I have reason to believe you are suffering from a minor concussion, it's nothing life threatening but you will be feeling dizzy and maybe slightly nauseous, it'll also explain your memory loss."

"Thank you Mr Paris," the Captain gripped his arm reassuringly, "But I'll be ok." She scanned their prison and sighed. "Has there been any sign of our captors?" She turned to her most trusted advisor. Tuvok shook his head.

"Negative, we awoke here shortly before yourself." He answered.

"Ok, well let's start with the simple tests." She tapped her comm. Badge, "Janeway to Voyager, please respond." Unsurprisingly the badge just returned static. "Well that wasn't unexpected. However, they haven't removed our badges so I think it's safe to assume that they either don't know or understand what they are, hopefully we can use that to our advantage." Janeway frowned and swept her gaze around the room again, "Now as for these bars…"

"Captain," Tuvok's voice stopped her before she was close enough to reach out to one of the metal bars. "I think it is unwise for you to test our constraints, please allow me to." Janeway hesitated for a moment then nodded her consent. Tuvok knelt and undid the laces on his Starfleet regulation boots, slipping one off his foot he took careful aim then tossed it into the centre of the bars. The bang that echoed through the cell startled the officers; the boot flew backwards through the air and hit the opposite wall. Tom Paris walked over to it and nudged the object with his foot, it was almost unrecognisable and a charred smell wafted through the cell, the boot itself was black and twisted.

Tom looked over to his Captain, stunned. "I guess it's a good job you didn't touch it Captain."

Captain Janeway herself looked pale and shocked _why did I nearly make such a stupid mistake? _She wondered to herself, the concussion must have been affecting her worse than she thought. Gathering herself together she cleared her throat.

"Yes… thank you Tuvok." She felt a wave of dizziness pass over her again but fought to control it. "Now…" Whatever she was about to say was interrupted at the sound of feet coming down the corridor towards them. She spun around as, for the first time, their captors came into view.

They were shorter than average human males, at a guess Kathryn would have put them at about 5"7, but they looked strong. Their arms were longer and thicker than that of a human and covered in dark hair. They walked with a curious swinging gait and Tom Paris couldn't help thinking of the 20th century film "planet of the apes". Their eyes were wide set and small and their noses were small and ridged. The most striking aspect of their face were their thick rubbery lips. Their faces were framed by dark coarse hair. Kathryn Janeway steeled herself, snapping herself up into the well-known "command posture." The captors stopped at the bars and gazed impassively at the occupants.

"Who leads you?" The one on the left asked shortly, his voice was gruff and gravely, he wore a red band around the right arm of his brown combat clothes. The other silent guard wore a yellow band. Kathryn stepped forwards.

"I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the starship Voyager." She stated forcefully, "Where am I and why have we been taken from our ship?" The guards stared at her in silence for a number of minutes before the one with the red band motioned to the other to open the door. He entered some commands into a hidden console on the side of the cell and the bars rose stiffly. The one with the red band nodded towards Janeway.

"Come." His tone brokered no argument, backed up by the other guard who stepped into the cell and grasped the arm of the Captain.

She knew instinctively not to struggle for as long as there was still a chance they could get out of this amicably. Janeway didn't flinch as the guard forcefully manoeuvred her out of the cell and into the corridor and she stood quietly as they reactivated the door. Before they re-grasped her to take her to god-knew-where she caught the eyes of both her senior staff, her quiet resolve informing them to stay silent and keep up hope. Tom Paris nodded imperceptibly and Tuvok allowed her to draw strength from his countenance before a rough push propelled her down the corridor towards her new destination.

As their captain vanished from sight Tom Paris let out a breath that he didn't even know he was holding. "I hope she'll be ok." He said quietly. Tuvok's innermost thoughts remained unspoken but he sent them all out toward his friend, logically knowing that there was no way she could hear them.

TBC 

_Please review, I would particularly like some feedback on my characerisation of Tuvok – who I've never really written before, I don't want to fall into the trap of just making him say "logic" every other word, Many Thanks. _


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